Testing out the Lumix

Another dawn start at Rainham on Saturday 18th, this time with a new camera in tow. My bridge camera was getting a bit old so I splashed out in the January sales and bought the Panasonic Lumix FZ82 and I was eager to test it out. I had to wait a while as Rainham West was fairly quiet. Down at the barges I at least caught up with my first Dunlin of the year, one of several common birds I hadn’t yet managed to catch up with this year.

Female Kestrel among emerging leaves in January

A close female Kestrel was the first bird I managed to photograph which I was quite pleased with. I later snapped another one near the Butts hide that was completely out in the open. 

Another Kestrel

Fieldfare in fading light

I spent a lot of time looking for the Short-eared Owl that others had seen in the Ouzel field but without any luck so I decided to wait until dusk. Not long after 4pm I saw an owl flying around – but it was one of the Barn Owls, actually the first time I’d seen one hunting at Rainham. It put on a good performance but it was a bit too far and there wasn’t enough light for a photo. It was a good finish to a long day even though I never did see a Short-eared Owl.

Sunday I decided to spend the morning at the London Wetland Centre. My number one target was Bittern but they hadn’t been showing that well recently, however the temperature dropped to freezing overnight and there was just enough ice around to force them out to the water’s edge. I headed straight to Dulverton Hide which is always a likely spot. It only took a couple of seconds to see a Bittern straight out against the reeds but by the time I’d put the scope & tripod up it had slithered back into the reed bed and vanished. I waited a while but a guided group of birders had arrived and it was too noisy for me so I moved on.

With the Bittern safely seen I could take me time wandering around and a little while later I ended up at the Peacock Hide. I spent a lot of time scanning the grazing marsh where a Jack Snipe was seen the day before but without any luck. A couple of Water Pipits were pottering about on the ice and I got several people onto them. A second Bittern was found at the back of the reservoir lagoon and this one stayed there for ages. It was a bit too distant for photos but I was keen to try out the 60x zoom of the Panasonic Lumix to see what it could manage.

Distant Bittern

As expected it was rather pushing it so I concentrated on photographing some closer wildfowl instead.

Pair of Shelduck

Pair of grazing Wigeon